Although it moves like it came from the pages of a Tom Clancy techno-thriller novel, it is really just a terrific action film that pays proper homage to the well-proven formulas of great story, fast paced sequencing, and bankable stars. Nicole Kiddman does a real star turn in this one, showing she is a very versatile and saucy type, as well as a femme fatale. yet this really is George Clooney's movie, one that shows he can safely leaves the environs of TV land for the silver screen for good. Playing the part of a street-hardened veteran who understands the way the world works outside the Washington beltway, this is a Clooney tour-de-force!He meets one's expectations for an action hero easily, showing he can talk the talk and walk the walk. When they need to get information from a sophisticated European businessman-crook, Clooney first asks nicely, and then simply terrorizes him into giving them the information, advising Kiddman on the side that they just don't have the time to fool around with this guy. Shortly thereafter, he shows just how crusty, clever and murderous he can be in one of the most imaginative car chases and set of action scenes yet filmed in the streets of Vienna.
And the movie has barely begun to cook, with some terrific high-tech elements as well as good old fashoned skullduggery and suspense, as well, as the film reaches its climax and denouement in the streets of the Big Apple. This is a handsome film, one that is well traveled and extremely easy on the eyes. It is also plausible, given all that we have learned in the last year or so about the dangers that suround us. I can highly recommend this. Enjoy!
Basically Clooney and Kidman are trying to track down stolen nuclear warheads ripped off by a formenr Soviet general and for sale on the open market.
I can't think of anything I disliked about this movie. The plot was chilling, it made "Sum of all Fears" look like a kids cartoon in comparison. Clooney and Kidman had spectacular chemistry and played their parts to the hilt.
By the time you finish this movie you'll be out of breath. It has a nightmare inducing beginning, the most spectacular car chase I've ever seen in a movie with Clooney ending it with a cold and hard finish as I've ever seen. Watch Kidman through this whole thing, her reactions are perfect.
Plus the terrorist villan was not some faceless unknown manic bent of gratuitious destruction. You actually felt for the villan, maybe even understood what drove and motivated him. What a great change for the normal way these guys are portrayed in films.
The ending is pulse-pounding sorry to overuse that phrase but it fits perfectely. Not only that it was the most accurate portrayal of defusing a bomb I've ever seen, it was truly edge-of-your-seat stuff. They did none of that "red wire green wire" sillness you see way too often in films. This was realistic folks, believe me it was very authentic. So much so I can understand if the less technically oriented viewers would be confused with the climactic ending as to what actually happened. But it was realistic.
I rate this even a better film than Black Sunday, and for me thats saying a lot.
Heck I think I'll watch it again later.Man, I don't know how many times that I have seen this movie, but every time I watch "The Peacemaker", it gets better and better and so on! "The Peacemaker" is the very first film from DreamWorks SKG, the motion picture studio that was developed by Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and Jeffrey Katzenberg. And I just have to say that DreamWorks did a brilliant job in bringing this adrenaline-pumping thriller to the big screen! This is also the first time that stars George Clooney and Nicole Kidman have shared the screen together (Clooney starred in "Batman & Robin", Kidman starred in "Batman Forever"). "The Peacemaker" focuses on the event about a train carrying atomic warheads being mysteriously crashed in the Soviet Union, and U.S. nuclear specialist Dr. Julia Kelly (Kidman) discovers that the crash was not an accident, it was a cover-up due to the fact that the warheads have been stolen. Unexpectedly, Julia is teamed up with a gruff and brash U.S. special forces Colonel, Thomas Devoe (Clooney). And of course, Devoe and Julia must put their personal differences away in a race against time to find the remaining stolen warheads that leads to a final showdown in New York City! The fast-paced direction by Mimi Leder ("Deep Impact") was outstanding! To me, I think that Leder should direct more films like this one day, even though her directing in "Deep Impact" was just as powerful as this film. And also, I think that "The Peacemaker" is the absolute best apocalyptic thriller ever, filled with action, suspense, and surprises at every turn! "The Peacemaker" never lets up on the action for a second! To anyone that hasn't seen "The Peacemaker" before, then I urge you to go out, buy it, and get ready for George Clooney and Nicole Kidman's best film ever!
Read Best Reviews of The Peacemaker (1997) Here
"The Peacemaker" is one of my favorite movies & is most definitely the best action/thriller I have ever seen! Clooney sparkles as miliatary field operative Lieutenant Colonel Tom Devoe & Kidman fits her role well as Dr Julia Kelly, the inexperienced head of the Nuclear Smuggling Group. The acting is superb, the screenplay well written and the plot fast-paced. This thriller kept me on the edge of my seat! My favorite part was at the end (won't spoil it for people who haven't seen it). And some of the scenes between Clooney & Kidman make me wish I could take Kidman's place! ;) This movie is absolutely superb & I highly reccomend you buy it immediately if you care for action, romance or if you like George Clooney or Nicole Kidman! I give this film an A++++++++!Want The Peacemaker (1997) Discount?
Has Leonard Maltin ever done anything REAL in his life other than write movie reviews? If not, how can he tell us what is realistic in a military movie? When I saw this movie at an Army post full of a wide cross-section of SF, Ranger, Airborne types I didn't hear the normal murmorings that this is "phony" or "unrealistic", in fact we were all stunned by the accuracy and since that time you don't hear much about this film sharp-shooting its details. Silence is golden. The reason is that the movie is a sobering reminder that America is vulnerable to a backpack nuclear device and we had best take some measures to secure our borders. The bad guy, bitter over how his wife/daughter were killed and peacekeepers did nothing (throw smoke grenades, anyone if snipers are firing?) is entirely realistic of the many who would seek to "get even" with the U.S. for trying to bring peace to their country.The best, most realistic action was how LTC Devoe (Clooney) handles the businessman and then the car chase/demolition derby ruthlessly; this is how it really is when the stakes are for keeps and the preliminaries are done. The moral toll it takes is significant. The "situational awareness" of satellite imagery is more reasonable than what we saw in "Enemy of the state" and more likely. My quibble is that we sent in SOF operatives in slow-flying French helicopters to "snatch" the rogue backpack nukes when its more likely we would have launched a fighter-bomber strike and exploded the weapons and then offered to help the Russians clean-up the contamination (think 1965 B-52 crash in Spain) since it was in a remote area. The film shows at the end the fact that a nuclear device can be exploded without "exploding" nuclearly. If we had sent ground troops in, they would have had air defense suppression, flown lower, nap-of-the-earth in American Blackhawks/Pave Low III helicopters and not likely to have been hurt by the SAMs. Next, there would be back-up forces to seal off the target area so none of the nuclear devices would have escaped the ambush to continue the movie and reach New York City. A lot of this was not done to give LTC Devoe a chance to do some on-scene heroics.
The other quibble is that the police sniper would have been ordered to shoot to kill in a nuclear situation, PERIOD. This means no worrying about civilians in the way; you shoot to kill immediately to stop the threat from exploding a nuclear device. If this had been done, the movie would have ended right there, but we needed the suspense to continue. The last quibble is the ending when they insure the bomb will not explode in a nuclear fission/fusion reaction but it explodes and spreads its radioactive contents. Besides everyone in the immediate local area dying instantly if it was plutonium, the entire area would need to be sealed off and covered with some kind of absorbant to prevent thousands of New Yorkers dying.
Aside from the quibbles, this is a 5-star depiction of Army Special Operations that should be viewed alongside Clancy's "Clear and Present Danger".
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